


I don't believe you / Soul Mates

by rinskiroo



Series: SWWA February Ficlet Challenge 2019 [7]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Gen, Kylo is still on his bullshit, Rey needs a break, The Force, but I tagged it Poe/Rey anyway, existential force nonsense, it's not that shippy - Freeform, standing up to jerks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-11-03 20:35:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17884769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinskiroo/pseuds/rinskiroo
Summary: Rey tries to keep him out, but Kylo Ren won't let her find rest.





	I don't believe you / Soul Mates

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Parallel Roots](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16311782) by [rinskiroo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinskiroo/pseuds/rinskiroo). 



It takes Rey some time to see that the Force is neither kind nor malevolent.  It simply exists and is therefore indifferent to the plight or success of organic beings.  It is a balance between the light and the darkness, but is not either one of those things.

She remembers on Jakku not understanding when things would oddly go her way--an extra ration simply because she was particularly obstinate and insisted.  How a ship that hadn’t flown in years had woken up to her touch and allowed her to put it through starts and stops, twists and turns, like it hadn’t been dormant and it’s parts seizing from lack of use.  That part of the Force--the part that lead her to Finn and to Poe--surely that has to be good.

There’s another part of it that haunts her, though.  There’s a wound that’s scabbed over in her mind, but still aches.  It’s where a monster had tried to pry his way in and take what he wanted--secrets that didn’t belong to him.  And later, the Force had been taut between them. It was like a rope that bound them together and she had hated it at first, but then she thought she could use it to fix things.

The Force… The Force was good, wasn’t it?  Now, it’s all muddled up in her mind that still stings when she thinks too hard.

They’re on Yavin: the hot, sticky, green planet Poe is from.  Rey thinks it’s hotter than Jakku, but Poe says it’s just a different sort of heat.  It rains in the afternoon, but Rey doesn’t think it makes it any better. It makes the air all misty and her hair sticks to her face and neck.  She fans herself in the shade and watches as Poe and Finn lounge on hammocks strung up on the porch. They’ll be back to the grind, and the fighting, soon enough, but for now, they’re on General-ordered rest.

She takes a deep breath as she leans back up against the tree.  It’s got a wide, thick trunk made out of stark-white bark. Its leaves are fat and veiny and green.  She’s seen it before, but she thought it was just a dream. And then she saw it on Ahch-To, but old and dead, not the brilliance that grows here.  The tree, she realizes, though she thinks maybe she figured it out sometime earlier, is what connected her, is still connecting her, to Poe, and to everything that’s happened since.  He grew up here, under its shade and though she thinks he wades in the shallow part of the Force like the majority of beings, it’s enough that they could find each other.

That part is good.  It has to be.

Poe says she helped save him.  Her and Finn together. Finn got him out of those restraints and off that Star Destroyer, but Rey was the beacon, the hope.

He waves, like he must have felt her staring, beckons her to come over and join them.  Rey shakes her head and waves him off because honestly, she just doesn’t feel like moving.  The tree is nice and comforting, like an old friend. It’s too hot to do anything else, really, so she closes her eyes and tries find peace in the balance.

“I’m glad you’ve found some time to relax, Rey,” a familiar voice says.  “You looked so tired the last time I saw you.”

Her eyes open slowly and she stares ahead.  She’s not sure what to think, except that she was sure that this door had been shut; this line of communication severed.  Apparently, she was wrong. There’s a fluttering of fear that she doesn’t have what it takes to block him out.

Maybe… if the Force is good… does that mean there’s still a chance?

No.  She can’t let herself be dragged back down into that spiral.

“You look… dark,” she says.

His clothes, of course, are black as night and hug his form.  The tattered cloak has been replaced by something more regal, like what a dark lord would wear.  But it’s not the clothes she’s commenting on. It’s the darkness dripping off of him. It pools at his feet and seems to soak right into the earth even though he’s not really standing there.

“There is no dark and light, can’t you see that, Rey?  There is only power. And you and I--we have that power.”

There are parts of truth in what he says--that’s how he convinced her before.  She wonders if he believes the things he says; if he’s ignorant to his own machinations, or he realizes that it’s all a farce.  Rey’s not sure which is worse.

No.  It doesn’t matter what he believes because his actions have already shown her everything she needs to know.

Rey stands, her fingers latching onto the bark because it’s strong and sturdy and grounds her in the present.

“I don’t believe you,” she says in a hoarse whisper like she’s somewhere between asleep and awake.  His dark eyes bore into her, unconvinced.

Across the yard, the boys in the hammocks seem to realize that something has changed.  Poe is the first one across the grass, sprinting up next to her.

“Rey?  Are you okay?”

Poe knows about Kylo and the Force.  He knows because she told him--and Finn, and Leia--but Poe was the one she had cried on.  How the same Force that had guided them together had also attached her to their shared nightmare--she didn’t understand.

The Force is good, but Kylo is not.  Once, she had hope for Ben, but Rey doesn’t think he’s there anymore.  It’s likely he was gone long before they met.

Poe moves in front of her, or tries to at least.  Rey doesn’t let him. She won’t ever let him stand between her and this darkness.  She knows that he’s not her shield in this; she’s the shield for the galaxy. She’s afraid, but she can’t let that stop her.

“Who else is here?” Kylo asks.

She thinks that by staying quiet, he might not know that she’s not alone.  But he’s there in her thoughts. He can probably feel Poe moving around because they’re connected--they’re always connected.  Especially here, so close to their tree.

“The pilot,” he answers his own question.  “He’ll disappoint you. Their kind always do.”

“Maybe,” she says as she glances at the hand wrapped around hers.  “But I will not be deceived.”

“We are destined, Rey.  The Force connected us. You are still discovering your power--I can feel it.  I can teach you.”

“No,” she says with finality.  It’s not only that she doesn’t believe him, she knows that he is wrong.  About so many things. Her eyes trail from Poe’s hand squeezing hers and up his arm.  She looks in his eyes and gives him a small, reassuring smile before she turns to look one last time at the fading vision of Kylo Ren.  “I don’t believe you. About the Force, or my parents--anything you’ve ever said to me.”

The Force… it’s not good.  And it’s not bad. It just is.  There is light and there is dark, but it is not the Force that generates such things.

She does wonder though, about destiny.  The Force never put her with Kylo--that had been another dark manipulation.  But the tree, which grows in both the Force and the ground, has connected her to a man who faced a fate she would soon know.  It showed her life and death, but that it is all connected.

Perhaps the Force is good because she is good.  Her friends, the family that she has chosen, are good.

“He’s gone now,” she tells Poe.

“Are you okay?” he again asks gently as his hand brushes against her hair.

Rey takes a breath, and then another.  It doesn’t take her long to find the restful balance.  She smiles at Poe and nods. The rest of this fight will come soon enough, but for today, there is peace.

**Author's Note:**

> You can check when I posted on tumblr the completely random order of this event's pairings before the prompts were announced. Rey/Ben came up as "I don't believe you" and Rey/Poe came up as "Soul Mates." I mean, maybe the Force is good? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Anyway, I kind of cheesed the soul mate portion by just making it THE FORCE DID IT, but it was nice to kind of revisit that relationship from Parallel Roots. I also used a bunch of the Force stuff I explored in Finding the Force because it's all connected and I'm rather attached to my Force nonsense head canons.


End file.
